Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bjustin 10 days ago
I've heard talk from some folks telling these people that their concerns about data center water use, power, noise etc. are overblown. Water companies disagree, saying data center water usage in fact is quite significant. Oops. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/21/not-enou...
2 comments

> In May, a House of Lords report said England faced a 5bn litre a day shortfall for public water supplies by 2055.

> Water UK estimated that datacentres in England use 6.6m litres of drinking water every day.

> England’s current water shortfall is 220m litres more a day than was assumed in water forecasts.

The UK is surrounded by a planet-spanning body of water. It has no excuse to be complaining about water shortages even if every square inch of it was a single giant datacenter.
Removing salt from ocean water is costly.
The UK can surely afford it. If not, then surely they can require the datacenters themselves to foot the bill.